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Open source is dead. Long live open source

BusinessWeek talks out of both sides of its mouth on Monday, on one hand carrying an op-ed piece from Collaborative Software Initiative's Stuart Cohen arguing that the "open-source business model is broken," while on the other hand talking up how enterprises are turning to open source to save money and drive productivity in tough times.

Which is it?

It's both, of course. Cohen is referring to a bit of a straw man when he claims open source is dead, referring to support-based business models that don't add "proprietary" value beyond the base, open-source code. All successful open-source companies have always had some value-add beyond the base code itself, whether that company is Red Hat, MySQL, SugarCRM, Zimbra, or IBM. We've just become more open about calling it out.

Cohen is therefore right to declare:

Open-source code is generally great code, not requiring much support. So open-source companies that rely on support and service alone are not long for this world. The traditional open-source business model that relies solely on support and service revenue streams is failing to meet the expectations of investors.

So we need more efficient ways to monetize open source. Point taken. But customers aren't waiting. As E*Trade Financial Chief Scientist Lee Thompson tells BusinessWeek, the benefits of open source are too good to ignore, and go well beyond acquisition cost:

For some companies, the benefits of open source extend well beyond cost savings, to such areas as license management. "Your engineers spend less time on contract negotiation and more time on the technology, which is really what you want them to be doing," says E*Trade's Thompson.… Read more

"Smart" wastewater bio-treatment takes over where porta-potty leaves off

In wars of yore, the slit-trench was state-of-the art field sanitation, filled to the brim and then maybe backfilled; but today, when even losers are litigious, it's not a good idea to leave that kind of mess.

Now, the Texas Research Institute for Environmental Studies (TRIES) at Sam Houston State University and PCDworks, a technology innovation firm, have developed a self-sustaining, portable and "smart" wastewater treatment system that promises to take over where the porta-potty leaves off. (PDF)

Housed in the ubiquitous 40-foot shipping container, the Deployable Aqueous Aerobic Bioreactor (DAAB,) can convert a battalion's worth … Read more

Broadband users prefer cable to DSL, study says

If you subscribe to a broadband Internet service today, more likely you use cable than DSL. According to a study released Thursday by J.D. Power and Associates, cable modem usage is increasing at a faster rate than DSL usage among Internet customers, as dial-up use continues to decrease.

The firm has performed the Internet service provider residential customer satisfaction study for 11 years. Every year, the study measures customer satisfaction with high-speed and dial-up Internet service providers based on five factors: performance and reliability, cost of service, customer service, billing, and offerings and promotions. It uses a 1,000-point … Read more

First Look video: Cram for iPhone and iPod touch

The iPhone and iPod touch offer plenty of distractions for students just killing time between classes or on a commute. But there are infinitely more games to lure you than there are study materials to help you pass that test.

Cram ($10) is one application that may be worth the investment for students looking to create endless study guides for themselves and friends.

See how it works in the First Look video above. If you like it (or even if you don't), tell us why in the comments. Even better, rate the app here.

Study: iTunes, Rhapsody grow in brand awareness

Amazon, Rhapsody, and iTunes were the big winners in a study of which music services are most popular and recognized by people who download music.

At the same time, Ipsos, a market research firm, announced Wednesday that its survey of 1,249 digital music buyers showed eMusic didn't see any growth in the public's awareness or usage. MTV and VH1 actually fell in those areas, according to an Ipsos spokesman. One of the reasons may be because MTV shut down its own service and last August teamed with Rhapsody on a joint venture.

The research by Ipsos did … Read more

Cram for tests on your iPhone

Add "study guide" to the long list of tricks you can do with your iPhone. Cram ($9.99) is a solid application that lets you create and import tests on any topic. You'll be able to take scored multiple choice quizzes or go into study mode, in which Cram provides you with a series of digital flash cards. Cram will flash the question and you decide with a click when the answer appears.

Cram is fairly simple to use, but there is a correct order for getting started. For instance, you had best register for Cram online … Read more

Study: Microsoft Cashback attracting visitors

Microsoft's Cashback program, which offers people discounts on products purchased through the company's Live search engine, is attracting visitors, research firm Hitwise said Friday.

"We see an interesting trend where the share of visits to the Cashback section of MSN Live is increasing," said research director Heather Dougherty on the company's blog. "Eleven weeks ago, MSN Cashback represented 3.75 percent of the traffic to Live.com and grew to 6.29 percent last week. This rise in Cashback's traffic underscores the interest in the program, which is likely to be getting a … Read more

Google snatches search share in August

It's a familiar pattern: another month, another increase in Google's search market share.

Internet users performed 11.7 billion searches in the U.S. in August, choosing Google 63 percent of the time, according to ComScore's monthly analysis released Thursday. That's an increase of 1.1 percentage points from 61.9 percent in July, the analyst firm said.

Yahoo slipped from 20.5 percent to 19.6 percent, and Microsoft slipped from 8.9 percent to 8.3 percent.

Google leaps, Microsoft drops in brand value

Google's brand name value jumped from 20th place last year to 10th in 2008, according to the latest version of an annual study that ranks the best brands, with only four technology companies ahead of it on the list.

Microsoft slipped from second to third place, edged down a peg by IBM, according to the study by BusinessWeek and Interbrand, which base their results on the value of the brand as judged by how much revenue it will likely earn for the company.

Google showed the strongest gain, with a value that increased 43 percent to $25.6 billion, … Read more